Hostage
by aashi
Summary: A twist on the standard zutara.Who gets captured by whom?
1. Chapter 1

Author's note-

I guess that after reading this , u might think this is terribly cliché with a rather sluggish and boring pace. But guys, spare a thought .This is my first fic (cliché too, I know) and I really like my take on the standard Zutara flick . This is set somewhere after "The Deserter" (I guess most of you'll have to rewind ur memories though it's still only the first season here for me. Hurrah for the net though cos I know the whole story and the spoilers just act as teasers for me.)Still that's enough rambling. So , here we go!

Summary-

A new twist on the standard capture zutara. Who gets captured by whom?

Disclaimer-

I never said I owned Avatar :The last airbender, did I? Well, how gave you that dumb idea?

**HOSTAGE**

"Not nuts again!"

Katara was mad. They had flown for hours trying to get Zuko off their trail before deciding to camp out on a deserted stretch of sand near a coconut grove , somewhere along the earth kingdom coast. And after three hours of searching, all Sokka could find were nuts?

"Hey, come on. It's not like I can just go to the market and buy stuff. Hunting in this place requires a skilled warrior like me. Besides you were the one who ate all that food."

"I was recovering from a fever. And you ate just as much as I did."

"Ok you two. Stop bickering." Aang, ever being the peacemaker, stepped in to separate the quarrelling siblings. "Sokka , how did you manage to find nuts in a coconut grove? Katara, Sokka and I will go together and don't worry, we'll find something. Meanwhile why don't you take some rest. You seem a little tired."

"Hey, I'm tired too. How come I don't get to rest?"

"Because you're a _warrior_, Sokka. And you did eat a lot of our food.", piped in Katara.

"Ha, he's just letting you stay back because you are a girl. And girls can't hunt. So, I guess it's just you and me, Aang"

Aang saw Katara twitching her eyebrows and recognized the warning signs of a major outburst and hurriedly said "Come on, Sokka. Let's go, Katara needs her rest."

After they left, Katara laid back against a nearby coconut tree and sighed. Finally, some peace and quiet. No more fighting and running and bickering and just Appa and Momo to keep her company. And before she knew it, she was fast asleep

Unknown to her, somebody was coming to disturb her peace just then. Zuko was feeling pleased with himself. He had used the same smoke trail trick he had used on Zhao earlier and followed the avatar in an innocent-looking little boat you could almost mistake for a fishing vessel. But the avatar was smart and his little trick hadn't worked before, so he kept a respectable distance. And now finally, he was here at the avatar's camp.

Drat! He was late and the avatar was nowhere in sight. The only person around the camp was the girl who was lying fast asleep against a tree. Guess he'd just have to wait some more. Orrrrrrr….He could just take the girl hostage and make the avatar come after him. So, Zuko stepped out and went towards her. He pulled out a short length of rope and bent forwards to tie her hands together.

Katara was dreaming about something sweet when she suddenly woke up with a start.

Only to find Prince Zuko within touching distance of her and looking as if he was trying to tie her up.

Zuko was astonished when the girl yelped and jumped away from him. Oh great, now he would have to knock her out. Well, maybe the avatar would hear and come to save his friend.

"Keep away from me or I'll….." said Katara , thinking hard of a way to get out of this without having to call for help. She'd be damned if she let Sokka call her a damsel in distress again.

"Or what, you'll get me wet?", he sneered.

"I may not have had much training Zuko, but I'm still pretty good." Katara retaliated.

"Okay, then show me what you've got. I'm more than a match for stupid water benders like you."

Now Katara was mad again. She'd finally gotten some peace and this rotten prince had to come chasing them again. She whipped up a wall of water from the sea behind Zuko and before he could react, she dropped it onto his head.

Now Zuko was really mad. He charged forward with a fireblast which Katara narrowly dodged, and charred the tree behind her. Katara blocked the continous streams of fire and tried to throw some ice daggers at him. But though her bending was good, her reflexes were slower on account of not spending most of the day training like he did.

Zuko thought he almost had her when the sea came charging up in a strong low wave and knocked him off his feet. He quickly made a spinning arc of fire with his feet and got up while Katara managed to scamper away with a minor burn on her dress. He shot more rows of fire at her with his feet and hands while she tried unsuccessfully to deter him by throwing disks of ice which just melted on contact with the fire. She jumped as one of the flames touched her feet when she felt him grab her neck through the misty steam.

"There , I caught you", he smirked when Momo chose this precise moment to enter the fray by jumping onto Zuko's head and screeching. He began shooting blindly trying to get it off when a stray fireblast from his hand chopped off one of the branches from the tree overhead and as Momo leaped off, fell straight onto his head. Zuko was knocked unconscious and fell to the ground, pinning Katara under him in the process.

"Get off me, you oaf", she screamed but to no avail. He was out cold and she was trapped under him. Maybe she could wash him off her. But she found that she couldn't move her hands enough to gather a wave. Now, her only hope was that Aang and Sokka came back before any of his crew or his uncle came looking for him. _Just my luck_, she thought.

Some distance away, Aang and Sokka were not getting lucky either. So far Aang had airbended up the trees only to find two measly shriveled coconuts among the dozens of trees there. Sokka also was being hard pressed to find any game or anything that looked edible around.

"Maybe we could just try hunting for some fish, Aang. Katara could even water bend them out for us." , he said.

"I'm still a vegetarian Sokka and I'm not going to change my mind about it. And we're gathering food, not _hunting._"Aang repliedwith just a touch of irritability creeping into his voice from being hungry so long.

"Whatever you say, Aang."he replied gruffly.

" I wonder whether Katara's ok out there alone?I mean she did look tired. Maybe she won't be strong enough to defend herself if the firebenders attacked now.",Aang wondered.

"What are you worrying about? You're the one who said she was tired and left her there".

Now Sokka was starting to sound anxious .

"Sure but we're close enough to help if she gets into any trouble. Besides you'd have done the same if Suki had been around." ,he teased.

"No, I wouldn't .", Sokka protested. "She wouldn't have needed to anyway" he added in an undertone.

But Aang enjoyed teasing Sokka . He airbended out of the way and with one of his trademark goofy smiles plastered on his face, began to sing " Sokka and Suki sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-"

Sokka stopped trying to catch Aang suddenly at hearing Momo's screeching and the dull thud that followed as their ears picked up the commotion that had gone unnoticed earlier and they noticed the slight smoke coming from the beach. They exchanged glances and said at the same time "Firebenders".

Then they took off at full speed towards the beach.

Katara had resigned herself to being trapped under Zuko and relaxed. Her mind was screaming at her for being so close to the enemy. But it wasn't that uncomfortable for her body. Zuko was warm even with his armor between them and his arms entrapped her in something that looked like an embrace. His head was buried between her breasts and she could feel his breathing tickle her. _Now if only she wasn't so weak from hunger and he wasn't so heavy. Why did he have to wear that dratted armor anyway? Boys- always trying to play the soldier. That was probably why he was so madly obsessed with capturing Aang too. Some big ego trip or vanity project. Though he could have justified being just a little bit vain if it hadn't been for that scar. Wonder how he got that,though?_

Her thoughts were interrupted when Aang made a smooth landing beside her and folded up his glider. Sokka reached her at the same time and exclaimed "Katara, what are you doing? Get off my sister, you fire nation scum."

"He's out cold, stupid. A little help here, Aang?" she said.

As they rolled Zuko off her, Aang asked her what happened. She gave him a quick explanation and as Momo scampered near on hearing his name, Katara picked him up into her lap and said "Thanks for saving me, Momo." As Momo chattered and slipped away, Aang asked "So, what do we do with him?"

"What do you mean? We leave him here for his crew to find and shift camp immediately, of course. In fact, I bet they're searching for him this very minute." said Sokka.

"No wait, I have a better idea." Katara stood up and said, "let's take him prisoner."

Author's note-

Oh yeah don't forget o R&R. I'd appreciate it.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N-

Yay! My first update! zoorhlm3, zutara lover and polskagirl, u guys made me grin so long my folks thought I'd gone kooky or something. Still, love ya'll 4 it. This chap kinda doesn't get anywhere and the zutaraness is kinda bad but I still like it.(Somebody please tell me this is normal. My plot seems to think we're out bronco riding, I just flushed my chapter plan down the drain, the characters keep acting OOC-especially zuko-he just doesn't do anything right and the length totally like went out of my control-this chapter was only supposed to be 2000 words long………pleeeeees)

Disclaimer-

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I. Don't. Own. Avatar.

"Katara, are you sure you're all right?", Sokka said pretending to check whether his baby sister had a fever. "He seems to have squished the brain cells right out of you-Ow!", he squealed as Katara whacked his hand off.

"Think about it, Aang. I know it seems crazy but this could work. We could just hold a knife against his throat every time his uncle and crew comes to rescue him and they'd have to leave us alone. Maybe we could even get some supplies out of them." Katara started pacing around like she did every time she went all stubborn on them.

"Ugh Katara, we're not going to actually hurt him , are we?" Aang being the peaceful monk that he was, seemed slightly averse to the idea of them using someone, even if that someone was a bratty fire nation prince, as a hostage.

"No Aang , we'll just pretend to. That way he'll get a taste of his own nation's methods n what he plans to do to you ".Anger simmered in her heart as she remembered her mother's loving prescence and how the fire nation had destroyed her and all that she held dear, like it was still trying to do, like_ he_ was trying to do

"Calm down Katara." Aang gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. She lost her angry look and gave Aang a small smile. Usually reasonable, Katara was the one who did most of the calming in the group. But, she was a teen after all and she had suffered her losses. Sometimes she just couldn't help being a little more like Zuko than she knew. " Sokka, I spotted the boat he came in while gliding over here. It was really tiny so I don't think we have to worry about any others finding him right now. And Katara's idea might actually work, you know."

Sokka hated it when they ganged up on him like that and tried desperately to think of a way out. "But won't that mean we'd have to drag him along?"

Katara had that angry-determined look on her face again as she replied ,"Until we get tired of it anyways. And you could always torture him for information about the Fire Lord and the way the fire nation's military works. I mean Aang's got to fight the guy within a year, right. And who'd know him better than his son?

"I don't know Katara. Isn't he supposed to be the one who captures us?" Sokka asked apprehensively.

"Sokka, you idiot. How can he capture us if we've got him tied up first? ",she whacked her brother on the head for good measure.

"Uh, speaking of tied up, shouldn't we tie him up or something before he wakes up?", he looked over at Zuko's sprawled out form and remembered the last time he'd seen Zuko unconscious. That was when he had saved him as the Blue Spirit.

_I'm sorry, Zuko. I don't want to do this. But what else can I do if u still want to be enemy?_

He let out a small sigh at what could have been and dragged his mind back to the present. "What are we going to tie him up with anyways? I doubt that rope will hold."

After a small thoughtful silence during which they all racked their brains ,Sokka spoke up "Don't worry, idea guy's here to the rescue."

With that, he went and climbed aboard Appa and with his machete like instrument cut up a few small metal wires from the front seat of Appa's saddle. Then he went to bend over Zuko's still unconscious form and crossed his hands behind him and bound them with a few of the wires. He did the same with Zuko's legs , crossing his ankles before binding them. And for extra safety, he bound his fingers and toes together too.

"There-one prisoner all done and ready. On second thought, I think I'm going to enjoy torturing him", he said giving the wires an extra twist with a sadistic look on his face.

"Nice job Sokka. But please get that look off your face . It kind of creeps me out" Aang then airbended Zuko against the tree in a sitting position and covered his feet and hands with sand so that they were not seen.

Now that she'd gotten what she wanted, Katara became more her usual self. " Did you guys find any food?", she asked calmly.

"No, but I'm sure there must be some on Zuko's boat. It'll have to do for now. We can go to the market and restock later on." Sokka stood up to go. For once, he decided , he was going to be nice to her sister. She was his only sister after all and he didn't like to see her unhappy no matter how much they bickered. " Aren't you coming with me, Aang?" he asked.

"But why do I have to go?" ,Aang was looking forward to getting the chance to spend some alone time with Katara. She was his first crush after all.

"Because there might be more people there and you are the one that knows the way. I'm sure Katara can manage standing guard here" ,he said nonchalantly. Katara looked pleased that her often-though-unknowingly sexist brother considered her capable of taking on the fire prince alone and said nothing."She did capture him after all.",he finished.

" More like got squished under him" ,Aang muttered under his breath not liking the image that popped into his head at all. But why was he getting jealous? _I better get out of here before I get more of these stupid thoughts. _With that, they both said bye to Katara and left ,with Aang leading the way.

Zuko woke up with his head hurting like hell. It felt like a couple of rhinos had trampled over it. He could feel the bruise slowly but surely rising on his head.

Wait, what was a bruise doing there? Hadn't he caught that water bender before…as realization slowly dawned on him, his expression changed to one of pure horror as he noticed his hands and feet were stuck in the ground and they felt like they had been bound with metal. The only thing that kept him from screaming was the slight groggy feeling in his head and years of training that had helped him learn how to keep his mouth shut.

What the fuck? What did they think they were doing with him? Who the hell did they think they were? They had their backs turned to him and were heatedly discussing something. A word drifted from their conversation and entered his groggy head.

Prisoner. Oh. Shit.

Then the avatar turned his head and zuko quickly shut his eyes hoping that he hadn't noticed he was awake. He still stood a chance of getting away if they didn't. Quietly, he listened to their conversation.

Wait, what was this? The girl wanted to torture him? This was her idea? That sadistic bitch. Why couldn't they just have left him there for his crew to find and escaped? On second thought, that would have probably meant leaving him at the mercy of the tide and whatever wild animals roamed about here. What business of hers was it anyway? Why was she so concerned about his hide?

As he saw the avatar leave along with the boy, he prayed they didn't have much of an idea of torture methods. _Uncle, where are you?_

At that moment, General Iroh was standing on the deck of the ship facing an unusually quivering Lieutenant Ji. "What do you mean you lost sight of him?" ,his voice was laced silkily with anger unlike his nephew's raging tantrums. But Lieutenant Ji was not a fool to mistake that tone, especially coming from The Dragon of the West.

"We had to take some sharp turns to avoid being spotted by some of Admiral Zhao's ships that were passing in the area, sir.The next time we looked he wasn't there." Leiutenant Ji squeaked.

"Well, then find him. The avatar's bison looked tired the last time I saw. He couldn't have camped more than 20 miles away from here. I want you to send a few scouting ships in the direction of the nearest land and report to me as soon as possible. I would definitely not like it if anything happened to my nephew." He looked definitely angry now though his voice didn't show it.

Leiutenant Ji scampered away with a quick "Yes, Sir", glad to be away from the angry old man. Iroh turned and faced the sea. His nephew was a capable young man but often rash and unpredictable. He had promised Ursa that he would look out for zuko and that was exactly what he'd done since his beloved sister-in-law had so mysteriously vanished. _Don't worry, prince zuko. I'm coming._

Once they left, Katara sat back and started to think. Now why had she acted like that? She was normally reasonable and calm. It was not like her to be angry , rude and sadistic. That was Zuko's job. Why did he push her buttons like that? Maybe it was because he symbolized everything she hated- cruelty, war, the fire nation, her mother's death….

Zuko saw the girl walk around thoughtfully. She seemed so sad and angry. Which was surprising. He'd thought her to be the cheerful type. He shut his eyes just a little tighter as she approached him.

"Why do you have to do that?" Katara wondered out loud. "Why do you want to take away everything that's important to me? Why?" she said as she leaned in and questioned him, her eyes staring right at him as if she could find the answer in the scar that was burnt across his face.

Why what? I didn't do anything to you. Sure, I'm trying to get your best friend. But, if it weren't for him, I'd have nothing to do with you. I've suffered more losses than you can imagine. Hell, I was burnt and banished by my own father. I'm not that villainous as you make me out to be. And stop questioning me like that!

"Why?" she whispered again.

At that moment, Zuko's eyes opened and as bright blue met glowing amber, she saw mirrored in his face the loss and pain she felt in her own heart but kept well hidden. Her face was only inches away from his .He could almost feel the electricity in the air as he stared into the cyan depths of her eyes. They looked compassionate, understanding-like his mother's. For that one moment, they understood each other perfectly. It was like their eyes had conveyed all that their mouths couldn't.

And then it was broken.

Katara jumped away with a start. That was the most….creepy thing she had ever experienced. Eyes were meant to see .You couldn't see things in them. Especially your enemy's eyes. Or could you? She quickly banished those thoughts, assumed a military walk and cleared her throat .

" So, prisoner", she said as she began to walk across.

"I'm not your prisoner", he spat.

"Those chains say you are. And if it still didn't get into your inflated head, let me inform you that we are holding you hostage. Get it? ",she said jabbing a finger into his chest. "H-O-S-T-"

Momo again chose this exact time to dash between her legs and trip her over. She flipped awkwardly as she fell into his lap.But the weird part was where her lips landed . Smack across his.

She was about to break apart when she felt his tongue shoot out in shock. He felt it snake across her mouth which had opened wide in surprise. She tasted surprisingly good- cool and hot at the same time. Katara felt dangerously light headed and found that she didn't really want this little accidental kiss of theirs to end. So she started her own explorations. This was the first time for both of them and they were both slightly violent in their inexperience.

She reached up and snaked her hands around his shoulders. He tried to put his hands around her waist but they wouldn't budge. What was wrong with them?

The chains. Which she had put.

Katara seemed to have been thinking the same thing because they suddenly broke apart. She could feel her cheeks going crimson as he started to blush too.

Zuko had never been kissed like that before. But the minute they broke apart, he came back to his senses and his usual surly disposition. She had taken him prisoner after all.

"Was that how you plan to torture me? Because it works."

A ringing slap hit his face as Katara stood up fuming. Her first time and she had to go kiss _him_.True, she had enjoyed it while it had lasted but if he wasn't going to admit it she wasn't going to either.

Before they could say anything more, they were interrupted by Aang and Sokka . katara quickly stood up so that they didn't catch her sitting in the fire prince's lap. Luckily, they didn't seem to have noticed.

"Even tiny fire nation ships are well stocked. Extravagant Pigs. Katara-look what we got- rye bread, dates, fruit, pickles- Oh you're _awake_. You didn't start the interrogation without us, did you, Katara? Hey ,what's wrong katara? Why are you blushing like that?" Sokka seemed to be puzzled. He'd never seen his sister go that colour of beetroot red before.

"It's just warmer here, Sokka. Here give me the bread" Katara irritably grabbed the bread desperately hoping that Sokka wouldn't read anything more into it.

Lucky for her, he didn't . He just said OK and didn't refer to it after. They were too tired to torture Zuko just yet. First came food. Zuko just sat there as tight lipped as ever, a small stream of smoke coming through his nostrils.

But Aang noticed that Zuko was also blushing and that their lips were slightly swollen.He felt a small green monster open it's wings inside him. But a moment later ,he scolded himself for being paranoid and didn't say anything about it. Instead he helped Katara make dinner.

Once they had begun dinner, Aang began "What about Zuko? We aren't going to starve him, are we?", concerned for his could-have-been friend cum pursuer.

"No, but we're not going to cut him loose either. Katara you're almost finished. Why don't you go feed him?" ,asked Sokka.

Katara gagged on her just finished apple and said, "Why me? You finish and go feed him."

"Because you're the girl, stupid. Now go." Sokka was back to his sexist attitude again.

"Fine, she said" She stomped off angrily and hastily grabbed a few of the apples. She landed beside Zuko and shoved the apples at his mouth as if he was a horse. "Eat"

"I don't want to."

"Fine don't."she stomped off.

"Guess we won't have to starve him after all since he's so intent on doing that himself", said Aang. " He'll probably be hungry enough to eat by tomorrow."

They went to bed. Aang and Sokka were fast asleep within minutes. But tired as Katara was, she couldn't sleep at all. She kept tossing and turning thinking of that _kiss_. What had made her act in such a stupid manner. And OMG had she actually enjoyed kissing him? _Him? _The slimy firebender prince? She was thinking that she must be going crazy when the object of her attention suddenly spoke "Do you not want me to get some sleep also?"

"Why, I thought you might not want to do that either."

" Well just cut it out. I'm trying to meditate here."

"Well , go meditate somewhere else then."

"I would if you hadn't bound me up like this."

"Well at least I'm treating you better than I would've been if our situations had been reversed. At least I'm treating you with honour."

"What do you know about honour?",his voice tensed. She seemed to have touched a nerve. "Have you spent three years at sea for it? Have you spent every waking moment of your life obsessing over it? Have you had your own family take it away from you? Do you even know the pain it brings?"

"Ok Ok stop. I get it. Calm down ." She got up and went over to him. She put a hand on his shoulder and said, "I'm sorry, I won't ask about it again."

Zuko was shocked. You were never kind to the hostage . And you _never _apologized to them. Maybe she did know something about it after all.

"I'm sorry too, Katara. For that.and especially about today evening."

"Oh that's ok. I didn't get hurt.", she said fingering the burn he'd made earlier in her dress.

"I sort of meant the part after I got captured." He blushed crimson. " I didn't mean to do that. But it was nice." He tried to push his lips upward into a smile but didn't make it. He settled it in a sort of smirky twist.

She was blushing a darker shade of red than him. " I liked it too." They made a silent agreement to not discuss it further. Her averted gaze fell on the fruits lying nearby. "Do you want to eat now?" she asked.

He nodded. She went and got a few apples and slowly he bit on them as she held them up for him. He started gagging and she immediately started smacking him on the head as if it were Aang or Sokka gagging. He stopped and they both smiled . A real smile this time.

An hour or two later, Katara was sleeping peacefully while Zuko gazed at her. He'd fired at the avatar when he'd wanted to be friends with him. Yet this water bender had made him act in a more friendly manner than he had in years. What was so special about her? As he settled down to sleep, he thought _– It's going to be a long night. _

A/N-

My first update all done. Do R& R . And who wants me to make momo the official zutara cupid for this flick?


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's notes-**

Finally! I managed to update. A few pieces of advise for my fellow newbies.1) never underestimate ur internals and try to move during them.2)In case u didn't see 1 don't even think u can write a fanfic at this time3) in case u didn't see 1 & 2 don't read THATP for inspiration or u'll end up trying to delete ur fic. In fact, Thanx 2 Zutara Lover, zoorhlm13, sparkling silver angel wings and contessa claire(u 2 anonymous reviewer) . u guys r the only ones who keep this fic running.

**Disclaimer-**

Pleeeees don't sue me.I can't pay u in dollars.

---------------------

Zuko came awake at the stroke of dawn. His shoulders felt extremely sore from being tied up all night long. He tried to stretch his aching muscles as best as he could but stopped short as he felt something rub against his arm. He slowly opened his eyes to focus on a pink paw the size of a small lemur. As his gaze traveled upwards, he saw the creature crouched over him. It looked extremely like an overgrown cat with pointy ears and a swishy tail. It was roughly the size of a large tiger. His eyes came level with a pair of huge brown saucer-like orbs. Directly below them was a round pink nose the size of a fireball .whiskers framed a mouth that looked like it could conceal a number of sharp pointy teeth. His heart started to beat just a little faster as the creature crept so close that he could the pupils of it's eyes.

"Shhh don't move…it might be dangerous" he heard sokka whisper, his boomerang in hand, ready to attack . Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Katara, also in an attacking stance, her water skin open.

_As if I could. I'm all tied up and defenseless. No thanks to you._

Still, he kept as still as he could. He was ready to breathe flames into the thing's face when……….

It bent over him and licked his face as if it were his own pussycat. Great .Now he was covered in cat lick.Ugh.

At the sound of hearty laughing however, the creature jumped and hopped out of sight as if were a kangaroo Zuko turned his face to see katara and sokka grinning like idiots.

"What are you two laughing at? I almost got killed there!"

"And how would it have killed you? By drowning you in drool?", Sokka guffawed. Aang woke up as they bent over laughing. "What's so funny guys? What did I miss?" he questioned as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"Zuko just got licked by a giant pussycat here. It was hilarious.", Katara managed between laughs.

"A giant cat? Did it hop away?"

"yeah. But what's that matter?" Sokka stopped laughing and asked.

" It's called a rock hopper. I only saw them once. They're supposed to be really hard to catch. And they're very shy of humans.", Aang said enthusiastically. The glint in his eye said he was itching to ride it.

"It seemed to like me well enough" Zuko said crossly from the side.

"Great, I'm going to catch one then." He lifted his glider and flew off.

"Does he ever act like he's the Avatar? You'd think he was a five year old." Zuko said crossly.

He remembered how he'd kissed katara and apologized to her. How he'd spoken to her about honour. What the hell had come over him yesterday? Now that stupid water peasant would go and get ideas that she knew him, that she could help him. She'd probably even be sympathetic. And _that_ was something he was not going to tolerate. He was going to be extra rude and malicious today to make up for it. Maybe he'd even try to escape.

"At least he has more fun than you, surly face. And he's only twelve. Well, a hundred and twelve. But…"

"OK I get it." He said before Katara could continue rambling.

Katara turned with a "Hmph. Suit yourself." and set to work with her morning chores. Sokka shrugged and did the same.

He watched as Katara made breakfast. Katara felt his eyes on her back. She turned and gave him a glare before saying " Sokka ,what are you lazing off there for? Aren't you supposed to question him?"

"This time in the morning?"

"Well you didn't do it yesterday. Or are you just scared of him?" she mocked .

" Scared? I'll show you. Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you interrogate a prisoner." He walked over and began pacing in front of zuko like a military general, just like katara had done yesterday. _This was going to be fun._

--------------

Sokka sighed. So far, this half hour had been anything but fun. Zuko had 1)glared at him and kept his mouth shut 2)breathed flames and nearly succeeded in burning Sokka's hand off 3)insulted him with a few well chosen expletives 4)glared some more.

"Maybe he's just cross because he hasn't had breakfast." Katara walked over to him with two bowls of breakfast in her hand. " Why don't you take a break and I'll deal with him", she said.

" I don't think he's ever been not cross, Katara. Still, anything for food" and he hastily grabbed a bowl and began munching.

As sokka walked off , Katara bent down and started to feed Zuko. He bit into the food angrily, nearly biting katara's fingers off.

"Hey, watch it there. You nearly bit my fingers off."

"Well, too bad I missed then."

"Look, if you want to get fed today, you had better be nice to me. Or I might just decide to dump you in the ocean.", she said and shoved the food back at him. He glared at her and ate it reluctantly.

_Stuck with a kid, a water tribe idiot and a girl_, Zuko thought. _I have to escape before I go mad._

-----------------------------------

Sokka was alone. Katara had gone to find fresh water and Aang still hadn't returned. Time to put his plan into action. "Hey, I have to go. Don't I get a … you-know….break", he asked sokka.

"OK but you'd better not try anything funny" Sokka bent and pulled Zuko's legs out of the sand and cut loose the wires around his legs. He pulled him up and they began to walk towards the trees. Sokka turned his back to let Zuko finish his business.

Zuko saw his chance and with a mighty heave, snapped open the fragile wires around his wrists and before Sokka had time to react, knocked him out with a punch.

He ran through the forest at top speed, towards the stretch of beach where his boat was anchored. Escape now, catch avatar later. He could almost see the tiny boat when suddenly he was tripped over by a stream of water lashing at his feet.

"Where do you think you're going?" Katara was in battle pose, her water skin open at her side. She had managed to find a stream and was just returning back when she saw zuko. That could only mean one thing. Escape.

Zuko didn't answer. Instead he shot a jet of flames straight at her. She managed to block it just in time with a thin screen of water she drew in front of her like a protective curtain. As the steam evaporated, she sent a high powered blast of water at zuko which froze into a sharp dagger just before it reached him.

Zuko nearly bent over backwards before catching the icicle ,an inch away from the armor on his shoulder. Even she hadn't expected it to be that close. Katara watched his now smoldering expression in shock as he crushed the ice dagger to water in one fist. There was something primitively frightening in his eyes that made Katara want to curl up and hide in a shell. She watched, rooted to the spot, unable to do anything as he took long strides towards her, eyes blazing in anger.

When he was about two feet away, she regained some semblance of her senses and sent a rather weak water whip toward him. He brushed it away with a short burst of fire, not even sparing it a glance. She stumbled backwards without thinking.

And then Zuko had her up against the tree, his hands pinning her arms to her sides, his eyes locking onto hers .She knew she was helpless if he decided to roast her then and there. But still she squirmed and struggled against him.

"I could finish you off right now, peasant." His eyes blazed in fury. She stopped squirming. Was he really going to kill her? "But on second thought, I have a better plan. I'll do exactly what you did with me. I'll take you prisoner. I might even enjoy it , who knows , especially the torturing part." She saw a small smirk creep on his face as their minds turned to yesterday's torture session.

_Wait .This is all wrong. Was that huskiness in his tone? He's supposed to be mad as hell with me . Instead he sounds kind of…horny. Who wouldn't if you kissed them so brazenly before? He must think I have some sort of crush on him. Why, he probably expects me to fall all over him any moment now._

He leaned closer to her, releasing the pressure on her arms a bit. She still didn't attempt to move.

_But I'm not a push-over. He's dead wrong if he thinks he can take me prisoner so easily .I remember what he's done. What he's trying to do._

Zuko leant so close to her that she could feel his hot breath on her cheek. "Especially the torturing part", he repeated. And this time there was definitely a husky tone to his voice, there was no mistaking it.

_I remember._

Katara felt her hands ball into fists with anger as he slowly closed the distance between them. She focused all her anger on him and tried to forget the pleasant memories she had of the last time they had been in such close contact.

Their lips touched. She let herself enjoy it for a second, the tiniest moment. And then she let go.

Zuko drew apart in shock to see a fair sized dent in his armor. He caught a momentary glimpse of a icy boxing glove around Katara's hand before it splintered apart into a thousand tiny fragments ,to reveal bleeding knuckles.

He stared at her, dumbfounded. For a split second, even his training couldn't bring him to react. But then his anger came to the fore again and he made a lunge for her and grabbed her hair.

He was about to fire at her when he was brought up short by something cold and pointy against his neck. Katara held on to the ice dagger she had materialized so tightly she was afraid it would break. She watched as his expression changed to pure ice.

"Don't move.", she said shakily, half afraid that he would brush her off like a fly and roast her to cinders. But when he didn't show any signs of moving, she took courage and stepped around him. " To the camp. And no tricks."

Zuko felt the steam rise from his nostrils but as the pressure on his artery increased ever so slightly, he began to move.

--------------------------------

Iroh looked around the campsite along with the two firebenders he'd brought with him.

"The bison's still there. It seems they haven't left yet. And if they're here, my nephew is definitely here."

They all jumped suddenly on hearing a loud crash coming from the woods. A minute later Aang bounded out of the woods riding a rock hopper. He looked surprised to see only Iroh and a couple of firebenders there.

"Avatar, have you seen my nephew?", Iroh asked courteously.

"Yeah. But where are my friends? You didn't capture them, did you?", Aang asked defensively The old man had been quite nice most of the time. Aang had the feeling he deliberately chose not to play a greater role in the confrontations they had with Zuko.

"No, I haven't. But where is my nephew? You didn't capture him, did you?", he said half-jokingly, trying to put the Avatar at ease. He may be the Avatar, but he was after all a kid. Iroh wasn't the malevolent kind like most Fire Nation people. He knew that, given a chance, talking could yield much better, and less bloodier results, than assault.

Aang looked around sheepishly, trying to avoid the question. "Actually, we kind of did."

"What?"

"Take him prisoner."

"Then I have no choice but to fight you, Avatar."

---------------

Ok, now the zutaraness has gone from bad to weird ( and still bad). Great. Still the hiatus means my plot's finished jumpin about n I can update faster.

Official Cupid Momo! (Momo blows kisses to fans and promises to be in action tomorrow)


	4. Chapter 4

A/N-

FOR ZOOR- MY BFF

* * *

"Unless you're willing to give my nephew back to me." Iroh continued on a more polite note.

"For the last time", Aang waved his hands around exasperatedly, "I – don't –know." The wind began to pick up a bit around them. He didn't think that zuko's uncle was the fighting type- come to think of it he wasn't exactly sure he'd seen the old man fight before. But he was a firebender and all firebenders had to be fighters. They were just menat to be that way. His grip on his glider tightened.

"Well, then let's search for him."

"Uhh….OK" ,Aang relaxed his grip on the glider and stared at the old man. Not the fighting type after all. Iroh told the guards "Stay here in case they come back. Come on, Avatar." He spun on his heel and started towards the forest. Aang hesitated a second before he jumped down from his mount and started following him.

Unknown to them, five pairs of eyes followed their every move. One of them was particularly malicious at that moment.

* * *

Momo sat quietly observing this conversation. But his attention kept shifting to the giant creature his friend was riding. The creature glared back at him. Momo could sense the creature wasn't thinking of making friends. It was more probably thinking of lunch. And momo was invited . As the main course.

OK that does it, I'm outta here.

Momo jumped with a shriek and swung his way into the forest and the creature took off after him. He jumped over the heads of the humans and he heard his friend calling out to him before they too took off after them.

* * *

Katara still had her icicle pressed close to zuko's throat. They were moving slowly because zuko was taller and with him in front , she had to strain to the side to see the way ahead.

As they picked their way across the clearing, Zuko started to think again about Katara. Damn it, he was becoming obsessed with the girl. When he had the perfect opportunity to get free, what had he done? Fucking tried to kiss her.

And now he was paying. But the problem was not that. The problem was even now that he had a dagger pressed uncomfortably close to his throat, he still wanted to kiss the girl.

_My hormones are way out of control. Well, at least she seems to have the same weakness._

Correction, she doesn't. She caught you, didn't she? Even though she doesn't seem to know much beyond a few basic moves. Face it, Zuko. She's not all that crazy about you.

She very well is. And you know it too.

Hah , that was an accident. She wouldn't kiss you again even if you were the last man on earth.

Shut up, stupid voice. I can make her kiss me again whenever I want. I'll show you.

"You're pretty good for a girl", he said suddenly. Fighting hadn't worked. Maybe sweet talking would.

Katara stopped short . "What did you say?" she questioned unsurely. Could she dare trust her ears that he'd just said something good about her?

"I said", He stopped and turned around to face her, feeling the dagger come a little closer as he did so, " you're pretty good- "

At that moment, Momo burst in with the rock hopper bounding after it. Katara turned to avoid the animals running straight into her but stumbled on a nearby tree root. But before she could fall, she felt a hand come up to catch her around the waist. Slowly, zuko pulled her up against his chest. She could feel the warmth coming from him.

"for a girl", he whispered as he stared into her eyes. He wrapped his other hand around her waist and brought her in closer. Katara let out a small sigh in anticipation of what she knew was coming.

* * *

"Nephew, there you are. Come on, let's go." They broke apart hurriedly to see iroh and aang standing a few feet away.

Aang stared at them. There he was imagining them wrapped around each other again.

Get a grip on yourself. You're imagining things.

The icicle in katara's hand went back up to zuko's throat.

"He's not going anywhere till you fulfill our demands."

"And what might those be, young lady?" Iroh smiled to himself. He'd seen them all over each other just a moment ago. But if they were going to pretend there was nothing between them, he wouldn't mention it.

"uhh…", Katara started, damning herself for not giving this enough thought. " plenty of food and money…."

"You're bartering me for supplies", Zuko hissed at her angrily. As if he were a worthless cow.

"And a promise to not chase us again or capture aang.", she continued to iroh pretending she'd not heard him.

"A promise?"

" A promise by fire."

Aang gasped inwardly. To make a promise on your element meant risking your bending powers or even your life if you broke it. It was the most sacred promise you could make- one that would have to be upheld for life.

Iroh gazed at his nephew. His hot-headed nephew who reminded him so much of his own lost son. He doubted the girl would harm him. Besides any promise he made wouldn't be binding on his nephew. Obviously, the girl hadn't thought this through. But even if the situation had been otherwise, he knew that there was nothing he wouldn't have done for his nephew.

He bent down on his knees and brought his hands together in a circular motion creating a small ring of fire around himself.

Katara gasped audibly. She hadn't expected him to give in so easily. He must really love zuko a lot.

Zuko stared. No his uncle wouldn't do that. He couldn't let him do that.

"With Agni as my witness, I hereby promise-"

"Uncle don't." Zuko shouted as he shoved his elbow backwards into Katara, slamming her to the ground. The icicle dragged at his neck letting blood. He didn't stop to check instead he flew at Katara.

Aang , seeing Zuko advance towards Katara, hit him with a gust of wind that blew zuko to the side. Before he could do anything more, Iroh let out a surge of fire towards him, which Aang jumped straight up to avoid.

Zuko got up and again sent a flame towards katara, which she stopped with a water whip of her own as she got up.

As the four battled, the intruder in the forest became more and more agitated. Any moment now, they would come into the forest and discover them. He relaxed as he saw the fight was moving away from them towards the beach.

Katara sent a lash towards Zuko's feet tripping him up. But as he fell, he dragged her along too and they both went rolling across the sand and straight into the water. They both had a small glimpse of Aang and Iroh still battling each other as they went down.

Zuko tensed at the first touch of the cold water. He grabbed on to the first thing he could reach which when he opened his eyes he found to be Katara's foot. She was trying to swim back up but he was holding her down. Well, she wasn't getting away that easily.

He tried to send a jet of fire at her, but underwater the only thing that seemed to come out of his hand was a stream of angry bubbles. He smirked as the jet hit Katara on the arm leaving an angry red welt.

Katara swirled her hands angrily in the water. Suddenly, he felt the water press around him, constricting his breath and the hand that grabbed her foot. The lack of air was getting to his head. He let go.

Katara began to swim up when a second later, his other hand caught her skirt and he hauled himself up using her as leverage before hitting another stream of bubbles at her that caught her squarely in the stomach. She was propelled a few apart as they both rose to the surface, gasping .

They both clambered quickly to the shore before facing each other in battle pose. But something was wrong. Katara could sense that Zuko knew this too. They both looked around to see the beach empty. And deadly quiet. Aang and Iroh were nowhere to be seen or heard.

"Where did those two go?"

* * *

A/N-

This was entirely for my bff, zoorhlm13 who got me off my lazy bum n got me updating.

N again people, this is set after "The Deserter" no toph. Also , katara's not a master yet so that's why she's not as good as she should be( she's still good though)

And who's the intruder n where did everyone go? Cookies for correct guesses ( I hav a whole batch baked cos that's like the easiest question ever)

N oh ya review plees ( cos this's like my major plot twist)


End file.
